topophilia means A strong sense of place, often combined with a sense of cultural identity. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Why this word is great
TOPOPHILIA — [Noun] A strong emotional or affective bond between a person and a place or physical environment. From Ancient Greek τόπος (tópos, "place") and -philia (from φιλία, philía, "love, affection"). Coined in English by W. H. Auden in 1947. Unlike patriotism, which pledges allegiance to a political abstraction, or nostalgia, which pines for a vanished time, topophilia is rooted in the sensory present of a specific locale. It is the muscle memory of a familiar footpath, the precise scent of petrichor after a first rain in one's own valley, and the gravitational pull of a city's skyline seen from a specific bridge at dusk—a quiet testament that we are, before anything else, creatures of place.
noun
- A strong sense of place, often combined with a sense of cultural identity.“What I feel towards my grandmother's house could be described as topophilia.”